16 Oct 2017 - The HESI initiative is a global partnership to support the role of higher education institutions in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

HESI was created in the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference, and to date, more than 300 higher education institutions have made commitments to promote the Sustainable Development Goals in university strategies, campus sustainability practice, research, local sustainability efforts, the dissemination of sustainable development knowledge, and integration of the SDGs into campus curriculums.

As part of the 2017 United Nations High-Level Political Forum, the partners of the initiative organized the event, “Higher Education Institutions – Key Drivers of the Sustainable Development Goals”, highlighting the leading role that higher education institutions are taking to accelerate progress towards implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Institutions from all over the world, including Monash University (Australia), Massachusetts Institution of Technology (U.S.), Stanford (U.S.), Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), ESPAE-ESPOL (Ecuador), Business School Lausanne (Switzerland), and AIESEC (global), all presented their innovative and diverse work towards promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.

Responding to the growing interest of higher education institutions in strengthening their engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN DESA Division for Sustainable Development is currently conducting a survey to better understand the needs and interests of HESI members and potential members, to guide future activities.